CACTUSES IN- DOORS AND OUT. 



inhabit this country, but which attain a fleshy character 

 only in desert regions. The euphorbias are to southern 

 Africa much what the cacti are to Arizona and Mexico. 

 Fig. .^represents one of these cactus-form plants, and 

 one which is often seen in houses, Euphorbia ineloforinis, 

 or melon-like euphorbia. Even the common Euphorbia 

 splendens, grown everywhere, is often mistaken for a 

 cactus. But this confusion of fleshy and spiny plants 

 with cactuses is general. Aloes, agaves, house-leeks and 

 yuccas are often mistaken for them. And in fact some 

 of these very plants dispute with cactuses the posses- 

 sion of the deserts. In our southwestern regions the 

 yuccas rise to tree-like stature, with thickened and har- 

 dened stems, and many other plants, notably the agaves, 

 take on somewhat similar characters. All this only il- 

 lustrates the type of vegetation which desert regionsi 

 demand. Characteristic American desert landscapes are 

 shown in Figs. A (p. 451), P (p. 468) and PP (p. 469). 



It will be necessary to go somewhat into detail in the 

 geographical distribution of these and a few similar 

 plants, in order to understand more perfectly their re- 

 lationships and characteristics. All this bears directly 

 upon cultivation, for it not only enables us to understand 

 their requirements better, but it affords us an inexhaust- 

 ible source of pleasure as a mere matter of knowledge. 

 Our interest in cultivating plants is due quite as much 

 to a general knowledge of their habits and character- 

 istics as to the beauty of their forms or flowers. 



In the northeastern United States there are very few 

 cactuses. There are only four which grow wild east of the 



Mississippi and 

 north of Vir- 

 ginia, and these 

 all belong to 

 the Indian fig 

 genus or opun- 

 tia. Opuntia 

 R a fi n e s q u i i 

 (Fig. /) extends 

 farthest north. 

 It is not infre- 

 quent upon 

 sandy plains in 

 Michigan, Wis- 

 consin and 

 Minnesota, and 

 it extends 

 southward to 

 Florida, and it 

 reaches north- 

 ward along the 

 coast to Massa- 

 chusetts. It is 

 a neat and at- 

 tractive spe- 

 cies, .well worth cultivating. In Dakota there are two 

 wild species of another genus, mamillaria. Upon the 

 distribution of cacti in the United States, the late Dr. 

 Engelmann wrote, in 1856, as follows : 



"As to the geographical distribution of the cactaceae, 

 our territory may properly be divided into eight regions, 

 namely : 



" I . The- Atlantic Rei^ion, which has only a single opun- 



FlG. G. ECHINOCACTUS ViSNAGA. 



Fig. H. ECHINOCACTL'b hex.edrophorus. 



tia, and that peculiar to it. Along the southern coast 

 some West Indian species may yet be expected. 



"2. The Mississippi Region, including the Western 

 States, produces another opuntia, which, in different 

 distinct forms, extends into the third, fourth and fifth 

 regions. 



"3. TJtc Missouri Region, namely, the northwestern or 

 upper Missouri territory to the Rocky mountains. It 

 furnishes two mamillarias, both extending into the fourth 

 and fifth regions; and three opuntias, one of which only 

 is peculiar to it. 



"4. 7 he Texan Region, namely, the eastern and in- 

 habited parts of Texas, westward to the San Pedro, and 

 northward including the territory south of the ArT<ansas 

 river. This region produces five mamillarias, two of 

 them peculiar to this district ; three echinocacti, none 

 of which are found in any other of our regions ; six 

 cerei, all of them peculiar to this district, and six opun- 

 tias, of which only three are restricted to it, and among 

 them is only a single cylindric opuntia. This region 

 contains therefore altogether twenty species, fourteen of 

 which are peculiar to it. 



"5. Tlie Netv Mexican Region, namely, western, un- 

 inhabited mountainous Texas, and eastern New M&xico 

 to the eastern headwaters of the Colorado of California. 

 This region is our richest cactus district. It has fur- 

 nished sixty-five species, fifty-five of which are peculiar 

 to it, namely ; nineteen mamillarias, of which sixteen are 

 peculiar ; nine echinocacti, all of them belonging to this 

 district only ; sixteen cerei, fourteen of which are pecu- 

 liar, and one common also to other regions ; and twenty- 



